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Post by Roquefort Raider on Mar 10, 2020 8:13:17 GMT -5
I re-read Don McGregor’s run on The Black Panther, and it remains as enjoyable as it ever was. I love the way McGregor has his characters talk and talk and talk as if they were in a Woody Allen movie. His characters are often given to ponder philosophical matters, but all of them have their own voice. It’s refreshing to have comic-book characters behave like rational, intelligent beings... even when they make mistakes. (I mean, how often will T‘Challa have to be beaten up before he learns not to charge unknown opponents? Bravery is a fine thing, but prudence is a good way to avoid hospitalization). It’s also interesting to see how relatively new T’Challa seems to be to the ruling business: he has a very hard time delegating, and ends up doing a lot of things by himself (hence his getting beaten up).
Killmonger’s revolution was a fine idea... It’s not a plot to take over the world or to inflict suffering upon a hapless people; it’s a honest-to-goodness attempt at toppling a system, and one which inspires enough people to make it viable. Even some of T’Challa’s friends point out that his and Killmonger’s positions are not that different. Also a major positive point for me: Killmonger is stronger than the Black Panther, period. No cheating, no drugs, no taking advantage of his enemy’s wounds or whatever: he’s just more powerful. That he is all arrogant about it makes it all the more galling, and as readers we realize it takes guts for T’Challa to keep going after the big guy.
The Panther vs Klan story arc is something of a slow burn, and I found it odd that Wakanda’s king would abandon his kingdom right after it has been ravaged by civil war... still, the change of tone was interesting. I think it is a crime in the annals of comic-books history that this story arc was first abandoned, then concluded years later, by someone else and with nonsensical shenanigans (having T’Challa struck by bad guys-induced amnesia the to justify how Kirby’s run made no reference to those events? Please). McGregor’s story deserved better, and so did the unique relationship that he had built between the titular hero and Monica Lynne. Talk about wasting a brilliant supporting character.
Wakanda is a funny thing. We’ve discussed its problematical geography in another thread, and its history also seems to vary depending on the writer. Under Stan and Jack, it was a pre-colonial African country to which T’Challa had brought science-fiction technology because he studied in one of those comic-book universities where a degree allows you to be ome a rocket scientist, a molecular biologist, a physicist and a robot expert all at the same time. The country still looked like a traditional society above ground, but hid gigantic Kirbytech installations underground. Here, Wakanda is a country moving from a traditional culture into a futuristic one, but in which the underground facilities are much reduced and in which most of the population feels ill at ease with the transition. Later on, under Hudlin, Wakanda would be retconned into always having had advanced technology (a rare instance of a retcon I wholly approve of, actually).
McGregor uses the clash between the two lifestyles very efficiently. I particularly liked the character of Mendinao, an elderly traditional healer who doesn’t spout new age nonsense about how natural remedies are better but embraces modern medicine... while still using his traditional poultices when they work. Many secondary plot points hang on the dichotomy of the Wakandan society, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the revolutionary movement hadn’t been helped by popular resentment against the new ways.
I recently learned online that W’Kabi, Wakanda’s chief security officer, had been killed about ten years ago (and surprisingly not brought back as a cloned zombie cyborg whatever). W’Kabi was a tragic figure, and his marital problems were of a nature we have rarely seen in superhero comics. He, like Monica Lynne, deserved better than to be just written off.
The art by Rick Buckler (in full Neal Adams mode) and mostly by Billy Graham is pretty impressive. We also get a little of the Gil Kane / Klaus Janson duo, which is one of my favourite art teams.
I’m glad the run has been collected as an Essential volume and later as a coloured one. It's just too bad that the (admittedly not as good) concluding issues written by someone else than McGregor are not included; ending a collection on a cliffhanger is a little unsatisfying, no matter how disappointing the conclusion might be.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Mar 11, 2020 10:32:07 GMT -5
The early issues coming in just under the wire for classic in the sense of the boards, I finished a re-read of the entirety of Locke & Key over the last month or so.
I hadn't read any of these since they first came out in their respective trades. But having watched the first season of the Netflix series and not remembering the series that well I thought it was time for a re-read.
What a great series overall. I'm not a horror guy, but there is a really nice juxtaposition of horror and fantasy here that really works for me. Hill and Rodriguez give us well thought out characters with plenty of flaws and put them through the ringer. There was seriously a lot more death and mayhem than I remembered and it put in to perspective a number of the criticisms of the TV show that I've seen.
Super fun, high quality series. This is the kind of thing that makes me roll my eyes at the guys who are convinced comics stopped being good forty years ago.
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Post by dbutler69 on Mar 11, 2020 13:08:58 GMT -5
I read through the whole 1980 New Teen Titans series, and am now starting in the Baxter series (since, though the Baxter series started when #47 of the original title came out, #1 of the Baxter series doesn't actually take place until the last issue of new stories in the original series, which is #58). All this stuff with Raven is about to hit the fan, with her and Trigon. Should be interesting!
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Post by beccabear67 on Mar 11, 2020 13:36:28 GMT -5
Two issues (plus #0) into reading Marvel's X-51 Machine Man reboot circa 1999. Have up to #8. I read the X-Men lead-in and then the two 1998 annuals out of order first. I like the classic '70s Kirby & Ditko look better than this bulked up partially Sentinel Machine Man, but it is well written so far. Somehow I got the alternate cover of #2 though... those boobs are laughable (also no scene like this was inside). "Wake up Machine Man I think I've got something to say to you, it's late September and I really should be back in school."It must've been drawn before they knew they were changing his look to this... Maybe a bit of BWS to the design?
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Post by badwolf on Mar 15, 2020 20:19:28 GMT -5
Defenders Annual #1 (1976)
"World Gone Sane?" by Steve Gerber, Sal Buscema and Klaus Janson
Some of the Defenders have been behaving oddly lately and Jack Norris deduces that the Headmen did something to them in a recent encounter. He goes undercover to investigate Ruby Thursday's presidential campaign. Meanwhile, the other Headmen begin their plan to save the world from overpopulation (so that they can rule it of course) by miniaturizing everything and everyone. I guess Jerry Morgan got the shrinking thing right this time. Also meanwhile, Nebulon continues with his mind control program, claiming he wants to help mankind by "freeing" it. In the end the Headmen are defeated, Ruby's plot exposed, and Nebulon decides humanity isn't worth his trouble. This apparently wraps up the ongoing threads with both factions of foes, at least until Nebulon returns to torment Namor in #93.
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Post by MDG on Mar 16, 2020 9:05:56 GMT -5
To help get me through enforced confinement when it comes, I grabbed Showcase Presents Flash vol 3 out of the library Saturday morning (should've grabbed more--library closed Saturday afternoon until further notice. I've read most of these stories before, and purposefully limiting to two a day, but I can't get over how beautifully designed and drawn this series is. The sameness of the stories and clunky dialogue would make these hard to get through, but Infantino really makes them a treat. In limited doses, anyway.
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Post by Batflunkie on Mar 16, 2020 12:53:29 GMT -5
Showcase #14, Flash #105 & #106 Not much to say really. Liked the Dr. Alchemy, Mirror Master, and Grodd stories
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Post by beccabear67 on Mar 16, 2020 13:54:53 GMT -5
The Jaguar (Impact) #4-6, and The Fly (Impact) #4... thought the Black Hood crossovers not so well done, disliking the costume they give him, but really liking Messner-Loeb's Jaguar characters so i will probably get more of her. I have The Fly #2 & 3 and hoping #1 still comes by mail... I like the Strazewsky and Parobeck 'new' young Fly quite a bit.
In The Jaguar, Maria looks up some info on the old Archie comics character The Web misunderstanding an overheard reference to the Impact The Web organization, and we read that he is presumed retired. A really nice touch of continuity for older readers there! I think I only ever had one '60s comic with The Web in it, but at least I could picture the character and understood the confusion. I don't know if the reference might've confused younger readers, or that if it did it would matter at all. It's nice to imagine the Impact 'world' having the old characters around somewhere if not shown or involved. I think I would've liked it if they had kept the Charlton characters out of the already overpopulated DC 'world'(s). I find it weird to see Captain Atom or The Blue beetle interacting with Superman, but then I guess the same could've been said for when they integrated Plastic Man and The Blackhawks, and eventually all Quality characters, and then the Fawcetts. It took me awhile to realize and accept the New Gods, Omac, and the Eternals respectively, somehow they had seemed seperate, but still, a better fit than Dracula or Frankenstein's monster from literature/film. Machine Man was a spin-off from Clarke's 2001 I guess, but he also seemed more Jack Kirby (and later Steve Ditko) than a seperate book property, and the toys have sometimes been integrated well... Micronauts and Rom anyway.
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Post by MWGallaher on Mar 18, 2020 17:12:49 GMT -5
I read the first 4 issues of Luke Cage, Hero for Hire today. It was a sudden whim; I'd read a very few issues of it in the 70's, and very distinctly remember buying the 2nd issue only off the stands in the early 70's. These were all written by Archie Goodwin, and they really hold up well, I think. All done-in-one, which was pretty unique for the time at Marvel, outside of the team-up comics. The artistic team of Tuska and Graham is strong--I'm thinking Graham was one of Tuska's best inkers, an indication of his own significant strength as an artist, as proven when he took over as alternating penciller for the series. Cage had a strong origin story, surprising recapped rather extensively in the second and third issues. I'm quite fond of the lower-tier enemies he faced in those early issues--it's quite a change from modern-day mega-threats in every issue.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 19, 2020 10:50:33 GMT -5
I'm reading this via Vol. 2 of Essential Spider-Woman. Spider-Woman and Hulk 'team up' to battle a corrupt scientist, Dr. Benway. He is doing illicit experiments on people. I feel the Hulk was surplus to requirements here. Jessica Drew is near where Dr. Benway is experimenting. The sheriff (who happens to be in Benway's pocket) asks her for 'help'. She deals with it. Banner is a prisoner of Benway's - and towards the end the Hulk rampages and then escapes. Spider-Woman saves the day here. This could have been a solo Spider-Woman tale, if you ask me.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 19, 2020 23:28:13 GMT -5
I finished both of the Norm Breyfogle Batman hardcover collections. These are solid+ super-hero stories, like I would rate Stern's Spider-man. The consensus seems to be that the issues written by Wagner/Grant team are the best, and I might not disagree with that, but if so, the Grant solo stories aren't that much of a step down. And, of course, the art is always fantastic. I'm still deciding if I'm going to continue this Batman roll through a little Milligan and Ostrander and into Knightfall.
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Post by String on Mar 22, 2020 12:16:20 GMT -5
Superman Time and Time Again trade which collects Action Comics #663-665, Adventures of Superman #476-478, and Superman #54-55, 61, and 73
This is my first re-reading of this arc after some years and I enjoyed it about as much as I remembered doing so originally. Jurgens kicks it off with his character the Linear Man coming after Booster Gold to return him to the future. Superman intervenes and inadvertently gets swept up into the time stream during his fight with the Linear Man. What follows is a fun jaunt through time as Superman bounces from the past (pre-historic to Camelot to WW II) to the future (three separate encounters with the LoSH at three different points in their history).
Stern, Ordway, and Jurgens do good in moving the action along as Superman tries to figure out what's making him jump through time and how to get back home. Some nice cameos from the JSA and the Demon and an unexpected turn-up of a super-villain while Clark fights dinosaurs. The Linear Man seeks to correct his mistake by sending Superman back home only it takes the destruction of a certain celestial object to accomplish that, an action that Superman and the Legion initially halted in the 30th century. Such destruction and loss of life were apparently always part of established history but that doesn't make it right to Superman who feels guilt over what had to happen for him to return home.
Speaking of home, the periodic check-ins while Superman is flung throughout time became slightly annoying and in certain instances, repetitive. LexCorp is seeking solutions about what to do till they find Luthor's supposed heir, Bibbo is drinking the night away after seeing the firework display of the time storm sucking up Superman, Jimmy Olsen's mother interrupts his date with Lucy Lane, Perry White is looking to make amends with his wife Alice, and Lois is pining for what to do to help Clark. The pacing of these snapshots were glacial to say the least. The LexCorp scenes became repetitive as in two different titles, mention was made twice over how the Board needs to become more familiar with the daily operations of the company and the same joke is used twice about a board member needing to call his wife at home over their late night meeting. Absolutely too much was seen was Bibbo's plumber crack as he was drinking with friends. The Perry scenes were sweet, the Jimmy scenes were funny but Lois' scenes felt true as the only thing she could do in light of what just happened was she returned to her apartment and fell asleep with thoughts of concern and love over Clark.
The main artists were Breeding whose work was decent, McLeod who was okay but I liked Ordway's work the best of these issues. He handled the Camelot portion of the journey and really liked his depiction of the Demon.
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Post by nerdygirl905 on Mar 22, 2020 12:58:04 GMT -5
Reread the Air Wave II(I?) stories in Action Comicsl They were nice, but I kinda forgot when the heck did Atom know Hal’s secret identity. He just pops out the telephone cord and say he needs him. I don’t remember that they told him anything last team-up.
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Post by Hoosier X on Mar 24, 2020 19:34:43 GMT -5
I've been reading some comic-book sequences digitally lately and I've been meaning to mention what I've been reading. Some of these collections I've been reading for months! But I never found the time to comment. But now … a lot of us have some free time, eh? I got the digital version of the Epic Collection "By Force of Arms," which is all the Iron Man stories from Tales of Suspense #73 to #99, Iron Man and Sub-Mariner #1 and Iron Man #1. (I think there's an issue of Tales to Astonish in the mix as well.) I used to have all these issues! When I was a kid, you could get decent copies of all these issues of Tales of Suspense for $1 or $2. Four bucks would get you a newsstand mint Tales of Suspense #77! So when I was still in high school, I had Tales of Suspense #41 to #99. And Iron Man and Sub-Mariner. (I didn't get an Iron Man #1 until years later.) Great Gene Colan art! And continuing adventures at breakneck speed! The stories would be continued every month, with each foe taking two or three issues to defeat, and the next storyline start while Tony Stark was walking to the bathroom to wash his face! I think it goes from #73 to #86 without a break at one point! The Black Knight! The Freak! The Mandarin! Ultimo! Namor! Krang! The Titanium Man! The Mandarin (again)! The Mole Man! The Melter! The Crusher! Half-Face! The Titanium Man (again)! The Grey Gargoyle! Whiplash! The Maggia! I love this run! It moves so fast, so much drama, great art, Pepper, Happy, so many great villains! (OK, I admit I'm not so keen on the Mole Man, the Melter and the Crusher issues. But the rest is Silver Age Marvel Gold! From Tales of Suspense #69 to #86 is my favorite Iron Man run. (The Captain America run at roughly the same time is also fantastic. It might be my favorite Cap run! I'd have to think about it.) I sold my Tales of Suspense collection a long time ago, more then 15 years in the past, and I haven't read any of these issues in that time span. So it was nice to find this Epic Collection for an affordable price in a digital format. I've been reading these comics for months! I'm up to TOS #96, so I've only got a few issues left. They hold up really well! It's been wonderful to re-read these stories that are among my favorites and part of the reason that my favorite age of comics is the Silver Age!
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Post by beccabear67 on Mar 24, 2020 19:50:45 GMT -5
I had a fair number of Tales Of Suspense from #45-99, maybe a little over half of them, and it was usually the best of the two-features-in-one titles, but then I never had quite as many Tales To Astonish or Strange Tales. I remember the price on the Iron Man #1 I bought was $25 (around VF/VF+) and people commenting on it as some kind of major purchase. I think the IM&SM #1 one-shot was 'only' $7 maybe a couple years later. I don't even want to know what they are supposed to be worth now, yikes! I also had Captain America #100 (I'd say only VG- though), and a Sub-Mariner #1 (FN-). Now I have all the digital editions of Tales Of Suspense but I am just not much for reading on a screen.
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